Do Hockey Fans Like Soccer, Too?

DC United is reaching out to Capitals fans with reduced price tickets. The first is D.C. United vs Columbus Crew on October 20 at 7:30 PM RFK Stadium. You can place your order at dcunited.com/hockey, using the code UNITED.

I can’t blame the DC United PR folks for doing this. Hockey fans have nothing to do right now, so why not spend some of that money on a soccer match (which happens to cost much less money)?

I’ve got to ask, though, is this the right audience? Certainly soccer and hockey have some basic similarities, but any hockey fan would tell you that hockey is much more fun to watch because it’s so much faster, has more hitting and more scoring. (Then there are those folks who like both sports equally… what a bunch of weirdos).

Comparing sports and debating which is better happens all the time. In the U.S., a large number of children play organized soccer, then abandon it as they get older. Youth hockey is on the rise (at least until the rotten taste of this lockout trickles down). Americans seem to only (somewhat) care about soccer during the World Cup. Of course, hockey isn’t exactly the No. 1 sport either, even when football, basketball and baseball are having labor problems. But certainly the NHL is bigger than MLS.

No matter what hockey fans think of soccer, DC United is making a smart decision to reach out to these fans. But I’d be curious to know how many Caps fans will buy into it. Something to do? Check. Reasonable price? Check. Local team to root for? Check. Beyond that, I can’t see too many folks trading in their hockey enthusiasm for soccer.